Monday, September 5

This Day In History

• 1698   Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.
  
• 1774   The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.
  
• 1793   The Reign of Terror began during the French Revolution as the National Convention instituted harsh measures to repress counterrevolutionary activities.
  
• 1836   Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.
  
• 1881   The first disaster relief provided by the American Red Cross benefited thousands of fire victims left destitute this day by the Great Fire of 1881. It had been a long hot summer in the ‘thumb-area’ of Michigan and small forest fires were burning. A southwest gale fanned the flames into an inferno. The fire raged for three days, scorching over a million acres. Over 125 people died in the blaze. The American Association for the Relief of Misery on the Battlefields was a result of the International Red Cross and the forerunner of the American Association of the Red Cross. Clara Barton was instrumental in establishing the American chapter in 1881.
  
• 1882   The nation's first Labor Day parade was held in New York.
  
• 1901   The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues was formed in Chicago. It became the first organized baseball league.
  
• 1905   The Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the Russo-Japanese War, was signed in New Hampshire.
  
• 1914   The First Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
  
• 1939   The United States proclaimed its neutrality in World War II.
  
• 1945   Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist ''Tokyo Rose,'' was arrested in Yokohama.
  
• 1957   ''On the Road'' by Jack Kerouac was published.
  
• 1958   ''Doctor Zhivago'' by Russian author Boris Pasternak was published in the United States.
  
• 1975   President Gerald R. Ford escaped an attempt on his life in Sacramento, Calif., by Lynette ''Squeaky'' Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson.
  
• 1977   The United States launched the Voyager 1 spacecraft two weeks after launching its twin, Voyager 2.
  
• 1997   Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India, at age 87.
  
• 1997   Conductor Sir Georg Solti died in France at age 84.
  
• 2002   Afghan President Hamid Karzai survived an assassination attempt in Kandahar.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1638   Louis XIV (‘The Sun King’ [he chose the sun as his royal emblem]: King of France [1643-1715]; died Sep 1, 1715)
  
• 1897   Arthur Charles Nielsen (market researcher: founder of A.C. Nielsen Co.: radio and TV audience surveys; International Tennis Hall of Famer: avid player, generous patron; died June 1, 1981)
  
• 1902   Darryl F. (Francis) Zanuck (producer)
  
• 1921   Jack Valenti (movie executive: president of Motion Picture Association of America)
  
• 1929   Bob Newhart (actor, comedian: The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart; LP: The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart)
  
• 1932   Carol Lawrence (Laraia) (singer, actress: West Side Story, General Hospital)